Publish at June 06 2016 Updated March 18 2025
As an essential condition for the pluralism of cultures and beliefs in a society, the religious neutrality of public institutions relegates religion and beliefs to the private sphere and that of groups without political aims. When a religion becomes that of the state, tolerance is usually out the window.
An imposed religion demonstrates that its own value is not enough to convince... and runs towards its decline until it returns to its essence.
The principle of open societies is to benefit from the contributions of all, with due regard for their beliefs, contributions that end up enriching each other's culture, debating critical issues, questioning and updating values.
Structured religions have adapted their discourse to this condition, which has arisen sporadically over the ages, in all pivotal regions, where several cultures had to live together. It's no longer a question of imposing, but of convincing, with real arguments.
Of course, religions regularly come up against their own dogmas, such as the absolute preservation of life, which has been put to the test by the development of technology and the evolution of mentalities. But beyond these dogmas, religions are among the few means of disseminating and promoting humanist values.
The Christian religion proposes a number of such values, which were and still are considered particularly corrosive to despotic powers. Forgiveness, loving one's neighbor, applying the spirit and not the letter, a spiritual life beyond the physical body, the possibility of living with dignity, and so on.
Profiteers and abusers don't like these stories. In the end, religions - those groups that connect people who share the same values - constitute a force that can oppose the purely materialistic beliefs that have taken over public institutions, flaunting their supposed neutrality.
It's not so much a question of affirming a particular religion as of affirming human values in the public sphere, of tolerating a vision other than those of objective, material values alone, which are poor guides when it comes to moving towards happiness for the greatest number.
To find out more:
Teaching morality at school: should we do it? - Alexandre Roberge - Thot Cursus
http://cursus.edu/dossiers-articles/articles/26877/enseigner-morale-ecole-faut-faire/
Secularism: what's at stake for society? A historian's view - Université de Poitirers
http://cursus.edu/institutions-formations-ressources/formation/26367/laicite-quel-enjeu-pour-societe-regard
Religious culture, pastoral animation, catechesis: what are we talking about? - Table .pdf
http://sitecoles.formiris.org/userfiles/files/sitecoles_1329_1.pdf
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